Sky Hopinka

I am a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. That announcement of identity is important to my work, as within my Self are layered strata of information, presence, confusion, and history. In similar ways, my videos use figures and texts that are layered and dense in image and sound, movement and meaning, and those tactics assist in questioning the complications of knowledge, access, and artifact. The possibilities of experimental cinema open a wide range of modes that help me think through the complications of culture and presence, both contemporary and historical, and how to explore, question, and arrange the multitude of layers that constitute an Indigenous post colonial perspective. These layers are an imperfect puzzle that are not about the precision of the connections, but rather the generation of overlapping swathes of emotion and indescribable understanding – for the viewer and myself.